Over 350 dead in Myanmar cyclone
Yangon, May 4
More than 350 people have been killed in military-ruled Myanmar by a Category 3 cyclone that ripped through Yangon and the Irrawaddy delta, where it flattened two towns, officials and state media said today.

43 LTTE militants, 7 soldiers killed
Colombo, May 4
At least 43 Tamil Tigers and seven soldiers were killed in running gunbattles between the rebels and the security forces in the embattled northern Sri Lanka, the military said here today.

Obama beats Hillary by 7 votes in Guam
Hagatna, May 4
Democrat Barack Obama beat rival Hillary Clinton by just seven votes in Guam’s nominating contest after record numbers of residents voted in the tiny US territory’s primary, officials said today.

Microsoft gives up bid on Yahoo!
Silicon Valley/Washington, May 4
Microsoft Corp abandoned on Saturday its $42.3-billion bid to buy Yahoo Inc.
Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer wrote a letter to Yahoo! chief executive Jerry Yang saying: “We continue to believe that our proposed acquisition made sense for Microsoft, Yahoo! and the market as a whole. Our goal in pursuing a combination with Yahoo! was to provide greater choice and innovation in the marketplace and create real value for our respective stockholders and employees.”

US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice (left) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas shake hands at the end of a joint press conference in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Sunday. Rice said she would ask Israel to remove more physical barriers erected in the West Bank as a bulwark against Palestinian militants. — AP/PTI
photo

Mush may agree to judges’ restoration, power dilution
President Pervez Musharraf has indicated that he would agree to a constitutional package to restore the judges and also empower the prime minister in significant ways by diluting some of his (president’s) powers provided he was allowed to stay on with dignity and decide upon his time and method of departure in the medium term himself.

Pak Bar council rejects
post-Nov 3 judges
The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) at a meeting here has declared that it would not recognise those judges appointed under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) after November 3 as legitimate judges.

Consensus evades lawyers’ panel
The first meeting of the panel of five eminent lawyers tasked to work out modalities of restoration of deposed judges ended its first meeting here late Saturday night without evolving a consensus.

Bolivians opposed to the referendum on autonomy that the Santa Cruz provincial government and civic groups are holding, confront those who are in favour, in Santa Cruz on Sunday. Bolivia’s richest region of Santa Cruz went ahead with a vote on greater autonomy from the central government on Sunday in a referendum that President Evo Morales declared illegal, but still poses the biggest challenge yet for his
government. — Reuters photo

High waves kill nine in S. Korea
Seoul, May 4
Nine persons, including two children, were killed today when high waves slammed into a breakwater on South Korea’s west coast, sweeping anglers and others into the sea, Coastguard officials said.

Hillary favours diplomatic engagement with Iran
Washington, May 4
Democratic Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton today favoured “intense diplomatic engagement” with Iran and said the US should do “everything possible” to prevent the country from developing a nuclear weapon.

Marijuana enthusiasts march in Toronto
Toronto, May 4
Thousands of marijuana enthusiasts marched in downtown Toronto, many openly smoking the drug as part of a globally coordinated rally meant to celebrate cannabis culture and push for the drug’s
legalisation.

RMoney to launch Sharia-compliant
portfolio
Dubai, May 4
Reliance Money has joined hands with Parsoli Corporation to launch its first Islamic Sharia-compliant portfolio management schemes for investors in India and the West Asia, says a media report.

Olympic torch carrier superstar Jackie Chan waves to the crowds on reaching the last check-point
at the Tianya Haijiao, a tourism landmark in Sanya, Hainan province, China on Sunday. The mainland
China leg of the Olympic torch relay started in the southern island of Hainan on Sunday in what is expected
to be a peaceful three-month journey to Beijing. — AP/PTI photo IN VIDEO
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Iraqi prez’s wife survives bomb attack
Baghdad, May 4
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s wife narrowly escaped death today when a roadside bomb exploded near her convoy in central Baghdad, the president’s office said. She was not hurt but four bodyguards were wounded, the president’s office said in a statement.

China hopes for ‘positive
outcome’
Shenzhen, May 4
China’s president said he was hoping for a “positive outcome” from talks with envoys of the Dalai Lama, which were due to open on Sunday, but state media kept up a barrage of attacks on Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader.

Karachi temple used as workshop
Karachi, May 4
Once famous for its beautiful architecture, the century-old Ratan Talha Hindu temple in this Pakistani port city is now being used as an auto repair workshop.

Members of Latvia’s coast guard inspect the stranded Bahamas-registered cruise ship “Mona Lisa” off Latvia’s northwest coast near Kolka, about 200 km from the capital Riga, on Sunday. The ship with 984 persons on board ran aground off the coast of Latvia on Sunday. All passengers and crew were safe, the coast guard said. — Reuters
photo

Austrian incest father’s tainted past emerges
Vienna, May 4
The Austrian man who held his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children by her was convicted of rape around the time the daughter was born, his sister-in-law told Austrian media.

‘Superdad’ Beckham too much for dads
London, May 4
Celebrities like David Beckham are giving a tough time to British dads who are finding it too much to live up to the high standards set by the rich and the famous as “ideal” fathers.

Global warming: Farmers
to face heat
Singapore, May 4
If farmers think they have a tough time producing enough rice, wheat and other grain crops, global warming is going to present a whole new world of challenges in the race to produce more food, scientists say.

Kill blues with bananas
Melbourne, May 4
Depressed? Have bananas and pineapple to boost your spirits. Consuming sunflower seeds, bananas, pineapple, tofu, spinach, chicken, asparagus and cottage cheese may help you feel good, according to a paediatriuam and natural health expert.

Yangon, May 4
More than 350 people have been killed in military-ruled Myanmar by a Category 3 cyclone that ripped through Yangon and the Irrawaddy delta, where it flattened two towns, officials and state media said today.

Packing winds of 190 km per hour when it hit on Saturday morning, Cyclone Nargis devastated the former Burma’s leafy main city, littering the streets with overturned cars, fallen trees and debris from battered buildings.

“Utter war zone,” one Yangon-based diplomat said in an e-mail to Reuters in Bangkok. “Trees across all streets. Utility poles down. Hospitals devastated. Clean water scarce”. A government official in Naypyidaw, the ruling general’s new capital 390 km to the north, said the latest death toll was more than 350.

The BBC, citing a report on state television, said 243 people were dead and more than 20,000 homes were destroyed. State MRTV later said the death toll was 241, including 19 in Yangon and 222 killed in the hardest-hit Irrawaddy division Southwest of the former capital.

Official newspapers in Yangon said only one in four buildings were left standing in Laputta and Kyaik Lat, two towns deep in the rice-producing delta and accessible mainly by boat. There were no details of casualties.

In Yangon, many roofs were ripped off even sturdy buildings, suggesting damage would be severe in the shanty towns that sit on the outskirts of the sprawling riverside city of five million. Foreign aid workers, whose movements are restricted by the ruling military junta, had not managed to reach many impoverished areas to assess the impact.

“I have never seen anything like it,” one retired government worker told Reuters. “It reminded me of when Hurricane Katrina hit the United States”. Although the sun was shining by this morning, the former capital was without power and water, and food prices had doubled, with many storeholders unsure of when they would be able to replenish stocks. Most shops had sold out candles.

An Electricity Board official said it was impossible to know when the power supply -- hit-and-miss at the best of times in one of Asia’s poorest countries -- would be restored.

Bunkered down in Naypyidaw, the junta’s top brass will almost certainly have avoided the worst of the storm. The military authorities declared a disaster in five states and state media carried footage of soldiers clearing trees from roads and Prime Minister Thein Sein, a lieutenant-general, meeting people sheltering in a Buddhist pagoda.

The death toll could climb yet further as authorities slowly make contact with outlying towns and villages along the coast, where weather forecasters had predicted a storm surge of up to 3.5 m. They are also likely to uncover victims beneath some of the buildings that collapsed in Yangon under the force of the cyclone, which had been gathering steam for several days in the tropical waters of the Bay of Bengal. —
Reuters

Colombo, May 4
At least 43 Tamil Tigers and seven soldiers were killed in running gunbattles between the rebels and the security forces in the embattled northern Sri Lanka, the military said here today.

As many as 10 LTTE rebels were killed and 10 others injured when the army launched a massive offensive yesterday and captured an area of 1.5 sq km in Puliyankulam
Mannar, it said.

Six LTTE cadres were killed in Janakapura in North-east Welioya yesterday, the Media Centre for National Security
(MCNS) said adding two soldiers also lost their lives during the confrontation.

In another clash later in the day, army gunned down seven tiger rebels in North Janakapura in
Welioya, it said. Two soldiers were also killed in the gunbattle.

As many as four tiger militants were gunned down in Kokkuthduwai in Welioya yesterday, the defence ministry said.

Separately, the security forces gunned down four rebel fighters in Kiribanwewa while three soldiers lost their life in a confrontation in Adankulam in Welioya yesterday.

At least four tiger militants were shot dead in Adampan area of North-western Mannar yesterday while six rebels and a soldier were killed during a clash in Nadulkandal area in the region.

Separately, the army gunned down two LTTE cadres in Palampiddi area, North of Madhu in Vavuniya yesterday. —
PTI

Hagatna, May 4
Democrat Barack Obama beat rival Hillary Clinton by just seven votes in Guam’s nominating contest after record numbers of residents voted in the tiny US territory’s primary, officials said today.

Results after more than 12 hours of manual counting showed Obama took 2,264 votes to 2,257 for Clinton. In the last Democratic primary in 2004 only 1,500 people took part.

“Clearly, both of them are quite popular and we should celebrate that,” Josh
Tenorio, Obama’s campaign manager on the territory told Reuters. “It’s a good day for Guam.” With only four votes at the Democratic convention at stake, the contest on Guam, a Pacific island more than 20 hours by plane from Washington, will barely register in the protracted duel for the party’s presidential ticket.

Neither candidate made it to Guam-instead both called into radio stations to campaign-and many Americans have never even heard of it, but some islanders were thrilled to finally be in the spotlight.

“A lot of people were confused by the process,” said Robert
Lizama, a local mayor. “It’s brought a lot of awareness and participation. I think that’s important.”

“We can’t vote for president, but this is our part of the process.”

Residents cannot vote in the presidential election but Guam, which is less than a fifth of the size of the smallest US state of Rhode Island, sends eight delegates with half a vote each to the Democratic convention in August.

Also on the ballot was the race for chairman and vice chairman of Guam’s Democratic Party.

Clinton reminded voters about her multiple visits during stopovers on presidential trips with her husband to Asia and Obama emphasised his Pacific connections through his upbringing in Hawaii and Indonesia.

Victory for Obama adds to his lead over Clinton but still leaves him short of being able to clinch the nomination to run against Republican John McCain in the November election.

The next major contests for the Democratic nomination are on May 6 in North Carolina and Indiana. The two states have a combined 187 delegates at stake.

While Obama leads in nominating delegates, Clinton has moved into a virtual tie with her rival in national polls after winning in Pennsylvania last month.

Neither Obama nor Clinton is likely to reach the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the nomination without help from 796
“superdelegates”-party officials and insiders free to back any candidate. Guam, which goes by the slogan, “Where America’s Day Begins”, will also send five superdelegates to the Democratic convention. It is a US territory since 1898. — Reuters

Silicon Valley/Washington, May 4
Microsoft Corp abandoned on Saturday its $42.3-billion bid to buy Yahoo Inc.
Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer wrote a letter to Yahoo! chief executive Jerry Yang saying: “We continue to believe that our proposed acquisition made sense for Microsoft, Yahoo! and the market as a whole. Our goal in pursuing a combination with Yahoo! was to provide greater choice and innovation in the marketplace and create real value for our respective stockholders and employees.”

But, he added: “Despite our best efforts, including raising our bid by roughly $5 billion, Yahoo! has not moved toward accepting our offer. After careful consideration, we believe the economics demanded by Yahoo! do not make sense for us and it is in the best interests of Microsoft stockholders, employees and other stakeholders to withdraw our proposal.”

Yahoo insisted Microsoft was offering too little to buy the company. “With the distraction of Microsoft’s unsolicited proposal now behind us, we will be able to focus all of our energies on executing the most important transition in our history,” Yang said in a statement.

Noting that Microsoft had “a talented team in place and a compelling plan to grow our business,” Ballmer said in his letter, “While Yahoo! would have accelerated our strategy, I am confident that we can continue to move forward toward our goals.”

Microsoft had offered $47.5 billion, which translated into $33 per share, but Yahoo! wanted $57 billion ($37 a share). Initially, the software giant in February had offered $44.6 billion or $31 a share but raised the offer as the negotiations proceeded.

Microsoft had made an unsolicited bid to buy Yahoo! so as to compete with Google search engine. Microsoft’s decision to abandon the deal casts a cloud of uncertainty over Yahoo! and its shareholders. The breakdown in the talks is likely to send Yahoo’s shares plunging.

However, Microsoft, whose Internet business lost $228 million last quarter, now faces the challenge of finding alternatives to buying Yahoo!, a purchase that would have tripled its share of the US web search market.

President Pervez Musharraf has indicated that he would agree to a constitutional package to restore the judges and also empower the prime minister in significant ways by diluting some of his (president’s) powers provided he was allowed to stay on with dignity and decide upon his time and method of departure in the medium term himself.

Najam Sethi, a well-connected leading editor writing in his paper Daily Times Sunday quoted unnamed “highly-placed sources” as saying that presidential aides were in contact with the government to work out a constitutional package acceptable to all stakeholders - Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Supreme Court (SC) judges, President and Army - for a working relationship between all institutions of the state.

The President is likely to agree to a proposal to dilute his discretionary powers to dissolve the assemblies but Article 58 (2b) that empowers him to dismiss the assembly would stay.

Apparently, the President is not ready to abolish the National Security Council but would agree to a proposal that the provincial governors be appointed on the advice of the prime minister rather than in consultation with him as at present.

However, he wants to retain the powers to appoint the three military service chiefs. It is understood that there is a willingness on the part of the stakeholders to fix the chief justice’s tenure to a five-year term. “But the government does not want deposed judge Justice Javed Iqbal to be restored as this would diminish present incumbent Justice Dogar’s chances of becoming chief justice on completion of Justice Chaudhry’s tenure.

The President is already in a process of consultation with his legal advisers who are in contact with the government to prepare a mutually agreed constitutional package to end the deadlock on critical issues.

Musharraf has also started meeting his political advisers and members of the PML-Quaid (PML-Q). Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi met him on Saturday to discuss political, judicial and constitutional matters. The PML-Q has already expressed its willingness to support the PPP on a constitutional package that took care of the interests of all stakeholders, particularly the president.

“High-level players” told Daily Times that the date of May 12 for the restoration of the judiciary was not cast iron and the issue could be dragged well beyond it if any of the abovementioned stakeholders was not on board any solution.

The Daily Times said that a couple of possible scenarios were on the table. In the first scenario favoured by the PML-N, parliament would pass a resolution on May 12 and the PPP government would send an ordinance to the President enhancing the number of judges on the SC from 17 to 26 and the President would pass it quickly. But the greater likelihood is that he would delay it for a maximum of 45 days.

During this time, the coalition would get a constitutional package ready and have it passed with the consent of the stakeholders. This would let the PPP and PML-N off the hook as far as public pressure is concerned to restore the judges and put the onus on the President for the delay. The civilians could also make noises about impeaching the president while they get a constitutional package ready.

The other option is for the PPP to back out of the executive order or ordinance route by insisting on moving the constitutional package before the order. In that case the PML-N would consider sitting out of the coalition without leaving it forever.

In both cases, the restoration of the judges will not happen on May 12 even if the resolution is passed because the fate of the judges is intricably linked to that of the other stakeholders.

The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) at a meeting here has declared that it would not recognise those judges appointed under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) after November 3 as legitimate judges.

The PBC welcomed PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif's announcement that the sacked judges would be restored on May 12 and, in a resolution passed at the meeting, vowed to intensify the lawyers' movement" if it was not done. It, however, rejected the declaration that the new PCO judges would also be retained. Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) vice-chairman Haji Syed Rehman talking to reporters after the meeting said the lawyers' community wanted the reinstatement of the deposed judges on the pre-November 2 status and would never accept the PCO judges. He said the PBC would hold another meeting in Lahore on May 16 to discuss the future strategy of the lawyers' movement if the deposed judges were not reinstated on May 12. "We want the restoration of judiciary and are ready to give time to the political parties till May 12," he said.

The first meeting of the panel of five eminent lawyers tasked to work out modalities of restoration of deposed judges ended its first meeting here late Saturday night without evolving a consensus.

Law minister Farooq Naek who heads the committee claimed "some positive" progress, adding that it would meet again on Monday. All matter involving legal implications of reinstatement of judges sacked on November 3 by Musharraf and retention of those inducted after emergency were discussed, Naek said.

“The deliberations are progressing very positively as all parties concerned had the same goal but differed on the modalities," he said. The panel will submit its recommendations on a draft resolution on the subject to be introduced in parliament on May 12.

The members include Aitzaz
Ahsan, Hafeez Pirzada, Fakhruddin G. Ibrahim, Raza Rabbani and Khawaja
Haris. The panel also co-opted advisor on interior affairs Rehman Malik,
PML-N's Shahbaz Sharif, Chaudhry Nisar and Khawaja Asif. The decisions in the panel have to represent a consensus, failing which the matter would again be referred to the leadership, Asif Zardari and Nawaz
Sharif, Naek told reporters. This formulation, however, ensures a stalemate in view of the presence of Hafeez Pirzada whose views against restoration of judges without a constitutional amendment are known.

Lahore, May 4
Pakistan's minority Sikh community seeks representation in the government, saying it will help ease its social and political problems.

"The Sikhs' problems could be solved if the community is given representation in the government or if a Sikh is appointed an adviser to the prime minister," said Swaran Singh, candidate for the post of president of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.

He suggested that an adviser to the prime minister should be appointed to attract Sikhs from other countries to invest in Pakistan. Christians and Hindus have representations in the government, but Sikhs have yet to reach the national or provincial assemblies, he said.

There are about 12,000 Sikhs in Pakistan who have been facing several social and political problems. Singh said every community has its own problems and its representatives take them up, but the Sikhs of Pakistan have been ignored so far.

"Christians and Hindus do not have any idea about the problems faced by Sikhs," he told the Daily Times. He said many Sikh youths were deprived of quality higher education because they did not have any scholarship quota in the Higher Education Commission. While Christian and Hindu widows receive Rs 5,000 a month as financial aid from the government, Sikh widows are not given such assistance, he pointed out. — PTI

US President George W. Bush stirred up a hornet’s nest last week by suggesting a greater demand in India is to blame for rising global food prices.

But despite the angry protests in India to the President’s comments, shopkeepers at South Asian department stores in America say the reason behind their poorly stocked shelves is simple: Lack of supplies from India, which in turn have driven up prices of existing supplies.

Bush noted that while prosperity in the developing world “is good,” it also increases demand. “So, for example, just as an interesting thought for you, there are 350 million people in India who are classified as middle class. That’s bigger than America. Their middle class is larger than our entire population. And when you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food, and so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up,” he said.

Meanwhile, the two biggest US warehouse retail chains are limiting how much rice customers can buy and South Asian grocers across America are watching with alarm as supplies dwindle and prices soar, signs they believe portend a bigger crisis.

“It has affected us very badly,” said Selva Palenivelu of Chennai Spices/Malabar Indian Mart in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

The crisis has been triggered by some Asian nations, including India, that have cut back on exports.

Indian Foods Warehouse in Hyattsville, Maryland, helps stock the shelves of ethnic stores in the Washington, D.C. Basmati makes up 95 per cent of the distributor’s rice sales. Manager Kandy Goomer said rice prices have shot up as a consequence of a shortage of supplies. “The fear is just beginning to set in,” said Goomer. “We have no restrictions on how much people can buy, but we may have to soon start imposing limits.”

Palenivelu said there were no restrictions at his store, simply because there is no rice. “We have been having this problem for over a month,” he explained. “The supply of South Indian rice, the kind used to make idlis, has been worst hit.”

Prices have gone up nearly 30 per cent, said Sandeep Aggarwala, owner of Rockville, Maryland, based Dana Bazar. “The price is continuing to go up,” he said. Prices of rice last spiked in 1973. South Asian store owners say it is still too soon to know if their clients are opting to substitute American rice in their diets.

Spurred into action by what they call “recent supply and demand trends” US retail chains Sam’s Club and Costco have placed limits on the amount of rice customers can purchase at their stores. The warehouse chains cater to small businesses, including restaurants.

Sam’s Club followed Seattle-based Costco Wholesale Corp., which put limits in at least some stores on bulk rice purchases. The limits affect 20-pound bags, not retail-sized portions. Sam’s Club said it would limit customers to four bags at a time of imported jasmine, basmati and long grain white rice. Sam’s Club put out a statement assuring its members it has “plenty of rice” for them.

“However, like our competitors, we’re just taking the precautionary step of limiting sales of the very large 20 pound bags of imported jasmine, basmati and long grain white rice, in our case, to four per member,” it said, adding, “This temporary restriction does not apply to retail-sized rice for sale in Sam’s or elsewhere at Wal-Mart stores. It also doesn’t apply in New Mexico or Idaho.”

The chain went on to note that on average, a typical Sam’s Club business member does not buy more than 80 pounds of rice in one visit. “This temporary cap is intended to ensure there is plenty of rice for all our members,” it said.

USA Rice Federation spokesman David Coia believes the crisis is just a storm in a rice bowl. He dismissed outright the notion that there is a rice shortage in the United States.

“The whole notion of a shortage of rice is ridiculous,” Coia said. “It’s possible that small ethnic restaurants and neighborhood stores may be purchasing rice in larger quantities than they do typically to avoid higher prices,” he added. While restrictions in rice exporting nations like India have affected the supply of certain types of rice, the supply of locally produced rice has not been affected.

Seoul, May 4
Nine persons, including two children, were killed today when high waves slammed into a breakwater on South Korea’s west coast, sweeping anglers and others into the sea, Coastguard officials said.

Another 14 persons were taken to hospital, where five of them were still being treated, said Lee Won-Il, a Coastguard official, adding that two of the five were in a critical condition. Lee said the death toll was updated after another body was found and no one was still believed to be missing.

A nine-year-old boy and his father, and a five-year-old boy and his uncle, were among the dead, Lee said.

The incident happened near Boryeong, 200 km southwest of Seoul, during a weekend, and visitors to the town were among the casualties.

“The sea water receded like an ebb tide before two-metre-high waves rushed to the breakwater and rocks to sweep the anglers and tourists into the water,” Yonhap news agency quoted one witness as saying.

The cause of the high waves was not immediately known. The meteorological office said the weather was not particularly bad at the time. —
AFP

London, May 4
Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, is to oversee a revamp of Chinatown in London to make it more “authentically Chinese”.

Plans include elaborate timber arches, carved by craftsmen in Beijing, and stone dragons flanking the entrances to tiled courtyards.

According to a report in The Sunday Times, Charles hopes the resulting “Sino-Victorian” streetscape will tastefully blend the Chinese roots of inhabitants with the British architecture.

The area’s neon lights and smells of cooking food, however, are unlikely to be swept away entirely for fear of the area becoming too sanitised.

The report said the plans for Chinatown in the Soho district of central London may also help the Prince to smooth his personal relations with Beijing.

Charles has met the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader loathed by China, on several occasions and is expected to do so again this month.

Hank Dittmar, chief executive of the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment, said “This is less about politics, more about a genuine interest in urbanism. Chinatown is an eclectic mixture of Victorian and east Asian styles and our job is to try to understand, then enhance the qualities.”

The foundation, the Prince’s architectural think tank, is leading a two-day seminar this month with leaders of the Chinese community and councillors from the City of Westminster to draw up ideas for the redesign. — PTI

Washington, May 4
Democratic Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton today favoured “intense diplomatic engagement” with Iran and said the US should do “everything possible” to prevent the country from developing a nuclear weapon.

However, maintaining her tough stand on Iran, Clinton said any attack by Tehran on Israel will be met with “massive retaliation”.

“We need to have a very intense diplomatic engagement with Iran, and I’ve advocated that for several years, in order for us to try to manage whatever they might do,” Clinton, who faces critical primaries in Indiana and North Carolina on Tuesday, told ABC television.

“We have to do everything possible to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And I will do that. It would be destabilising and dangerous for the world if
Iran were nuclear weaponised,” she said.

In an April 22 interview with ABC, Clinton had vowed to obliterate Iran if it used a nuclear bomb on Israel.

Clinton today said she had
no regrets for making those comments.

“I have advocated vigorous diplomatic engagement. You see, we don’t even really understand exactly how decisions are made in Iran, because we have been so isolated from Iran. They have an elected leadership with Ahmadinejad, who’s all over the TV, but I believe most decisions are made by the clerical leadership, the Supreme Leader, that actually is responsible for the Revolutionary Guard.

“ ...because of this split leadership and because of discontent among the people, we want to create some upward pressure that sends a very clear signal to the Supreme Leader and to Ahmadinejad and others, that going forward on nuclear weapons is not a free choice for Iran.

“And the very idea that they would translate into action some of the most outlandish comments that have been made by some of the Iranian leaders, and even contemplate wiping Israel off the face of the world, means that we’ve got to make it clear to them that will not go without massive retaliation,” Clinton added.

The former first lady said she did not think Iran would be interested to play a role in Iraq.

“I do not believe Iran will go into Iraq. If Iran were to go into Iraq, there would have to be a determination made at that time. But it is something that I am not anticipating, and we are not going to have permanent bases and permanently occupy Iraq because of some contingent that may or may not happen,” Clinton said in response
to a query. — PTI

Toronto, May 4
Thousands of marijuana enthusiasts marched in downtown Toronto, many openly smoking the drug as part of a globally coordinated rally meant to celebrate cannabis culture and push for the drug’s legalisation.

The police was content to let marchers-who mostly appeared to be in their late teens to early 30s-light up at will as they strolled yesterday along Toronto’s Bloor Street shopping thoroughfare, chanting slogans like “free the weed,” as amused motorists honked their approval.

The Global Marijuana March, scheduled to take place in 200 cities across the globe yesterday with Toronto hosting the flagship event-is in its 10th year, organisers said.

The event has grown in popularity in Toronto in recent years, as the issue of marijuana legalisation has become a political
hot potato.

Canada’s previous Liberal government tried to decriminalise marijuana earlier this decade, but the subsequent Conservative government killed the bill when it came to power in 2006.

Marijuana is not generally legal in Canada, but Canadian pot laws are generally more lenient than those in the United States. The federal government runs a medical marijuana program for patients who can demonstrate a need for it.

The rally was meant to be more of a celebration and information-sharing event than a protest, said the 36-year-old organizer, who identified himself only as “The Gerbz” and who butted out his joint before sitting down for an interview.

“It’s about coming together to build awareness and to break through the stereotypes and stigmas that political elements and the media have perpetuated over the last 70 years since ‘Reefer Madness,”” he said, referring to a 1930s propaganda film that featured melodramatic scenes of marijuana turning teenagers into homicidal maniacs.

At the march’s starting point at Queen’s Park, home of the provincial legislature, the scene seemed more music festival than political rally.

Marijuana smoke wafted over the area where pot enthusiasts clustered in small groups on the muddy ground, many with elaborate pipes or bongs, some eating corn on the cob as a live band thumped reggae-tinged rock music.

Vendors in booths offered hemp clothes and pipes, while others trumpeted the value of marijuana for medical purposes. —
Reuters

Dubai, May 4
Reliance Money has joined hands with Parsoli Corporation to launch its first Islamic Sharia-compliant portfolio management schemes for investors in India and the West Asia, says a media report.

“A significant part of India’s population has not been offered appropriate financial products in compliance with the relevant religious sentiments,” Sudip Bandyopadhyay, director and CEO, Reliance Money, told the Gulf News.

“Sharia-compliant PMS by Reliance Money along with Parsoli Corporation would enable us to tap this sector and reach out to a large section of such investors.” As per the understanding, Parsoli would work with Reliance Money to ensure compliance with Sharia for the relevant schemes being launched by Reliance Money. Parsoli would also market other financial products and services being introduced by Reliance Money from time to time.

Reliance Money is expanding its presence in the West Asia. It has presence in the UAE and Oman and plans to expand its distribution network into other West Asian and African countries, which have significant non-resident Indian population.
— PTI

Officials said army-led joint forces carried out a series of raids and arrested 21 suspects after a faction of Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP-Marxist-Leninist) claimed the responsibility for the attack on a police outpost at Baghmara in Rajshahi.

The outlaws killed a policeman and injured five others at the remote outpost, raising the security alarm in five northwestern districts,
including Rajshahi.

"Nearly 100 people were interrogated while 21 of them were detained for their suspected links to the attack," a senior police official of Rajshahi said.

Block raids were under way to find more suspects, he added.

According to primary investigation, the attack was carried out in a planned manner as the underground operatives appeared to have regrouped after they suffered a massive setback following tough security campaigns in the past several years.

"Such an incident must not have been a matter of one day.

The perpetrators had to take preparations for long. And so, it is police failure that they could not gather information in time," police chief Noor Mohammad earlier told newsmen. —
PTI

Baghdad, May 4
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s wife narrowly escaped death today when a roadside bomb exploded near her convoy in central Baghdad, the president’s office said. She was not hurt but four bodyguards were wounded, the president’s office said in a statement.

“One of the vehicles of Ms Hero Ibrahim’s convoy hit an improvised explosive device in the road this morning,” the statement said. “She was heading to the National Theatre to attend a cultural festival.” The police said two Iraqi soldiers and two civilians were wounded in the attack, which they said targeted a mily. Roadside bombs are a favourite tactic of a number of militia and insurgent groups in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq. Iraq has seen a surge in violence over the past month, mainly involving clashes pitting Shi’ite militias against US and government troops in Baghdad and the south.

Sunni Arab al Qaeda has also struck with a number of large suicide bombings in the north. — Reuters

Shenzhen, May 4
China’s president said he was hoping for a “positive outcome” from talks with envoys of the Dalai Lama, which were due to open on Sunday, but state media kept up a barrage of attacks on Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader.

“I hope that the contacts with the Dalai Lama’s side from today will yield a positive outcome,” Hu Jintao told Japanese reporters in Beijing, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. The fence-mending talks between Chinese officials and the two aides of the Dalai Lama, the first since an eruption of Tibetan protests and deadly riots in March, were scheduled to start on Sunday in the city of Shenzhen, near Hong Kong.

The unrest, the most serious challenge to Chinese rule in the mountainous region for nearly two decades, prompted anti-China protests around the world that disrupted the international leg of the Olympic torch relay and led to calls for Western leaders to boycott August’s Beijing Games. Hu said he hoped the Dalai Lama and his followers would “show through action” that they have “stopped separatist activities” and “agitation of violence” to create conditions for further dialogue.

Security was tight outside the Shenzhen state guesthouse where the talks were to be held, and reporters were not allowed into the compound.

The official news agency Xinhua identified the Chinese negotiators as Zhu Weiqun and Sitar, both vice-ministers of the Communist Party’s United Front Work and responsible for winning over religious leaders and ethnic minorities. Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, the Dalai Lama’s representatives in Washington and Switzerland, respectively, arrived in China on Saturday.

A commentary in the Tibet Daily, mouthpiece of the Tibet regional government, accused the Dalai Lama of being a “loyal tool of international anti-Chinese forces”.

Accusing the Nobel peace laureate of being the leader of a political group plotting to split Tibet from China, it said he was “colluding with international anti-Chinese forces to spread rumours and slander to disrupt and sabotage the Olympic torch relay”.

China hoped “the Dalai side will take credible moves to stop activities aimed at splitting China ... and stop disrupting and sabotaging the Beijing Olympic Games so as to create conditions for talks”, Xinhua said, quoting an unnamed official.

Some analysts said the repeated condemnations in the run-up to the talks suggested that China was in no mood to compromise following the riots in Tibet, which stoked Western criticism of its rule there.

Chhime Chhoekyapa, a senior aide to the Dalai Lama, said on Saturday that the India-based Tibetan government-in-exile “can’t have great expectations” from the talks.

There have been six rounds of dialogue between China and the Dalai Lama’s envoys since 2002, with no breakthrough. China proposed the latest talks last month after Western governments urged it to open new dialogue with the Dalai Lama, who says he wants a high level of autonomy, not independence, for the predominantly Buddhist Himalayan homeland he fled in 1959.aThe Dalai Lama also says that he objects to violence and supports the Beijing Olympics. China says he is insincere. China says the rioting in Tibet’s capital, Lhasa, in March killed 18 “innocent civilians” and a police officer. It has not specified how many, if any, protesters have died but says troops used maximum restraint and avoided using lethal weapons. Exiled groups say many more Tibetans have died in a crackdown on rioters. The government-in-exile estimated last week that 203 Tibetans might have died in the unrest since March 10.

Karachi, May 4
Once famous for its beautiful architecture, the century-old Ratan Talha Hindu temple in this Pakistani port city is now being used as an auto repair workshop.

The Auqaf department, an autonomous body which generates revenue from the Waqf properties through collection of rents/lease money, leased the historic temple, located on Ratan Street, to a private party that converted the shrine into an automobile workshop.

Abdul Qayum, the workshop's owner has converted the temple's main worship area into a storeroom and has restricted local Hindus from visiting it for worship.

The temple is spread over an acre with two-storey buildings, built for pundits and guests, surrounding it on three sides. Qayum said he had leased the temple two decades ago and had no knowledge of it being a shrine as there were no statues of gods and goddesses when he received it from the Auqaf department. — PTI

Vienna, May 4
The Austrian man who held his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children by her was convicted of rape around the time the daughter was born, his sister-in-law told Austrian media.

The newspaper ‘Oberoesterreichische Nachrichten’ reproduced what it said was a 1967 court record from state archives in the city of Linz, in which a Josef F. was accused of breaking into the apartment of a 24-year-old nurse and raping her.

Josef Fritzl’s sister-in-law, identified as Christine R., told the daily that he had gone to jail for the offence. “I was 16 when he was locked up for rape,” she said. Austrian officials will say only that, if Fritzl had such a rape conviction, it would have been purged from the records after 15 years at the latest. A call to Fritzl’s lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, went unanswered on Sunday.

The reported conviction dates from shortly after the birth of Fritzl’s daughter Elisabeth, now 42, who was released just over a week ago from the cellar where he had fathered seven children with her. The head of the police investigation, Franz Polzer, said in an interview published on Sunday that Fritzl was a classic tyrant personality.

“This man, all of whose crimes were driven by his sexual energy, never once tolerated being asked about his holidays, his absences,” he said. Authorities have said officials followed correct procedures in allowing Fritzl and his wife Rosemarie, who had seven grown-up children of their own, to care for three of the children he had with his daughter, ostensibly after she abandoned them on their doorstep.

Elisabeth was kept imprisoned in a cellar complex beneath the grey apartment block with her three other surviving children -- a daughter, now 19, and two sons aged 18 and 5. Until last weekend, the children had never seen sunlight. —
Reuters

London, May 4
Celebrities like David Beckham are giving a tough time to British dads who are finding it too much to live up to the high standards set by the rich and the famous as “ideal” fathers.

A survey has found that fathers are feeling pressured to have an “unrealistic” lifestyle similar to that of Beckham with keeping fit, dressing well and making a lot of money, and this has left many men frustrated at their own relationships.

The poll of 4,000 fathers by the ‘Netmums.com’ portal found that, because of this, a third of them were unsure if they would stay with their partner for good.

More than 40 per cent of the respondents claimed they suffered a male version of post-natal depression, with over half feeling deprived of the time they used to spend with friends as mothers were increasingly demanding breaks from children in the evenings and weekends. According to the survey, the headache of family finances tops the list of factors which put fathers under pressure, at 74 per cent. Forty-five per cent of fathers complained about lack of sleep, and 41 per cent lack of sex.

The main cause of arguments with partners is money (21 per cent), followed by the other person feeling unappreciated (14 per cent) and household chores (10 per cent), it revealed.

“In the past the male and female parenting roles have been very clearly defined, but we are now seeing increasing numbers of parents both opting to work. There are also fewer stay-at-home mums, Sally Russell, the Director of Netmums.com, was quoted by ‘The Sunday Telegraph’ as saying. —
PTI

Singapore, May 4
If farmers think they have a tough time producing enough rice, wheat and other grain crops, global warming is going to present a whole new world of challenges in the race to produce more food, scientists say.

In a warmer world beset by greater extremes of droughts and floods, farmers will have to change crop management practices, grow tougher plant varieties and be prepared for constant change in the way they operate, scientists say.

“There certainly are going to be lots of challenges in the future. Temperature is one of them, water is another,” said Lisa Ainsworth, a molecular biologist with the United States Department of Agriculture.

Spiralling grain prices in recent months have startled governments long used to affordable rice, wheat, soy and maize.

But rising demand and likely greater climate variability and more fluctuations in crop output could mean even more uncertainty for prices.

Current estimates suggest demand for cereals will jump by more than 50 per cent by 2050 as the world’s population rises from 6.6 billion to about 9 billion.

The world has already warmed by about 0.7 degrees Celsius on average since the 1800s and studies show higher temperatures can cut yields, particularly in the tropics where a lot of rice is grown.

“In Northeastern China, low temperatures, a short growing season and lack of water limit production, so rising temperatures in the future may have beneficial impacts there,” said Ainsworth.

“However, in the southern parts of the country, higher temperatures will likely cause yield losses,” she told Reuters.

Pollution is another threat. Ozone, which is produced at ground level by sunlight interacting with pollution from burning fossil fuels, can cut plant productivity. The higher the ozone levels, the worse the damage.

In the northern hemisphere, ozone is a growing problem and is estimated to cost farmers billions of dollars in lost production.

“In the major rice-growing regions, which are India and China, ground-level ozone concentrations even today are very high and certainly exceed the threshold for damage. Ozone is already decreasing yield potential in many areas,” Ainsworth said. Rice is grown in more than 100 countries. More than half the world’s populations rely on it as their main food source. — Reuters

Melbourne, May 4
Depressed? Have bananas and pineapple to boost your spirits. Consuming sunflower seeds, bananas, pineapple, tofu, spinach, chicken, asparagus and cottage cheese may help you feel good, according to a paediatriuam and natural health expert.

A diet high in tryptophan -- an amino acid converted by the body into the feel-good chemical serotonin -- can improve mood and wellbeing, says Dr Caroline Longmore, founder of Galen naturopathic centres, Britain.

In her e-book ''The Serotonin Secret'', Dr Longmore writes that the body cannot produce tryptophan so unless we get enough through diet, we may suffer a deficiency, leading to low serotonin levels, which is associated with mood disorders, anxiety, cravings and irritable bowel syndrome.

''Following a diet which contains foods rich in naturally occurring serotonin will improve your mood,” the Age quoted her as saying. —
UNI

China fires more officials over train crash
BEIJING: China has sacked five rail officials following a train crash last month that killed 72 people, bringing to eight the total number dismissed. An express train travelling from Beijing to the eastern coastal city of Qingdao derailed and collided with another train in Shandong province in the early hours of April 28. The authorities have blamed the worst train accident in the country in over a decade on speeding and poor management. — Reuters

New Zealand troops deny damaging Buddha remains
WELLINGTON: The New Zealand Defence Force denied claims on Sunday that its troops damaged the remains of Afghanistan’s famous Bamiyan Buddha statues while carrying out a controlled explosion. Spokesman Captain Zac Prendergast confirmed to Radio New Zealand that the troops disposed of a live rocket in the area but said all care was taken and there was no damage. A Bamiyan province official had blamed the New Zealand troops, serving with a Nato-led force and a UN-led disarmament group, for causing further damage to the statues, virtually destroyed by Taliban militants seven years ago. —
AFP

Asian workers protest non-payment of salaries
DUBAI: About 400 Asian workers mostly Indians, recently demonstrated peacefully in front of the Kuwait Human Rights Society building, protesting against non-payment of salaries. However, a few minutes into the demonstration the area was cordoned off by riot police for fear that the situation might go out of control, Al-Anba daily reported. A cleaning company employs the workers and they were demanding back pay. Two men delegated by the demonstrators reportedly talked to the members of the society and aired their complaints. —
UNI

Largest Dinosaur Sue on display in Dubai
DUBAI: The world’s largest meat-eating Dinosaur named Sue is on display at Children’s City in Dubai. The exhibit, in collaboration with Field Museum in Chicago, also held various activities for visiting children as part of their Crazy Bone Day. The main spotlight, however, was on the massive 42-metre long replica of Sue. The original T. Rex, Sue was found on an Indian reservation land in North America and is believed to be 65 million years old. Eleven-year old Aqil expressed about the exhibit, “I love Dinosaurs and Sue is so cool, being here feels like I’m in Jurrassic Park.” —
UNI